Ex-South Florida priest pleads no contest to sex charges

Monday, 14 January 2013 17:28

One of South Florida’s most notorious priests — accused by several men of sexually abusing them in their youth — will go to prison for 12 to 15 years under the terms of a plea bargain he accepted Monday in Broward Circuit Court.

The Rev. Neil Doherty, 69, pleaded no contest to six charges of lewd and lascivious acts upon a child for alleged repeated sexual assaults committed in the mid- to late-1990s on a man who is now 26-years-old and living out of state.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Gillespie accepted the plea deal and said he will sentence Doherty on Jan. 28. Upon sentencing, Doherty will be required to register as a sexual offender.

Doherty, who has been held in county jail for two years, said little during the hearing. He was grizzled and clad in tan jail scrubs and shackles.